Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Development of Confucianism and its Influence on Chinese Culture
Confucianism is a set of philosophical ideologies and ethical social-political teachings that guide the conduct of the Chinese society. It is a system of ethical teachings that influenced the Chinese society since the times of the Han Dynasty. While in some circles, the Confucianism philosophies are referred as religion, their impact is beyond the religious significance in Chinese society. The main aspects of the influence of Confucius are the learning, family instructions, effective government, woman’s virtues, social interactions and the relationship between heaven, earth and man among other topics. This paper seeks to explore the origin and the development of Confucianism with a view of understanding its influence on the Chinese culture. The discussion of the Confucianism traces the development of Confucianism in Chinese history to illustrate its influence on the Chinese culture.
Confucianism is one of the most influential aspects of the Chinese culture, philosophies and values. To understand the traditions of the traditional Chinese culture, it is important to first comprehend Confucianism as a philosophy of the Chinese people since its formulation. At the same time, it is important to understand the application of Confucianism as an ethical and social, political form of teaching that is embedded in the Chinese culture and religion. To understand this, it is important to trace the development of Confucianism from its origin to the current Chinese culture.
Confucianism started during the Han Dynasty from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Confucius lived in the historical period between 551 and 479 BC. He was considered as the transmitter of the Chinese values of the Zhou. Confucianism started as a set of moral and political doctrines that were formulated from the teachings of Confucius. To create the set of morals, Confucius developed documents based on the conversations and ethical values he gave regarding various aspect of the society, such as family as he gave to Zengzi (Ebrey 1). The development of Confucianism took shape with the formalization of the use of his ideologies in the political organization in China.
During his time, as recorded in the Analects, Confucius influenced the social way of life by giving the principalities of behavior for all people. For the men, Confucius explains that gentlemen should seek purpose in life by worrying about the way and not poverty (Ebrey 18). He explains that men should serve God and people. He states that men should revere Heaven, revere great people and revere the words of the sages (Ebrey 19). By giving the reverence principles, Confucius gives guidelines for social order in the society and the traditions that should guide the gender roles of men. He guided how men should live in seeking a good conduct and behavior in the society. He states that a gentleman is not proud and he acts for the goodness of his plan and other people (Ebrey 19)
Confucianism is observed in the Chinese culture since the historical times, from the way the ideology influenced people to embrace values of universal good. Confucius further directs people on how to live as human beings by embracing the values that are universally acceptable for the humanity. He stated that every human being should seek to pursue five things in life if he has to be a universal human being. These are; reverence, generosity, truthfulness, diligence and kindness (Ebrey 19). He explains that taking these values will help a person to avoid insults, influence others, gain trust and have great achievements. By explaining these things, Confucius bases his ideologies on the universality of humanity. Therefore he sought to embed the universal values of the Chinese culture.
As an ideology, Confucianism was later enriched by the incorporation of the teachings of Mencius, Meng Zi and Xunzi or Xun Zi. Mencius particularly influenced the Confucianism view of woman, virtues and vices. These influenced the society’s view of women. He explains the role of women in understanding men. For the society, Mencius stated that social roles are not complete until the society gets good gentlemen for women (Ebrey 73). Mencius further advanced the Confucianism principle about humanity by illustrating that all human beings are sensitive enough to understand the suffering of others (Ebrey 23). This developed the value of kindness as presented by Confucius in the four human values. This shows that Mencius teachings build on the Confucianism rather than compete with the ideology.
Through the teaching of these values, Confucius created an expectation of loyalty of women towards their families and men. The Confucianism values influenced the practice that women should be loyal to their families and men, even unto death (Ebrey 56). According to Ebrey, Confucianism values influenced the Song Dynasty to hold the idea that women should never remarry after the death of their husbands (Ebrey 56). This Confucius value developed as it was further developed by Cheng Yi, a thinker who taught that women would rather starve than remarry. The same was observed in the family unions that followed the Song Dynasty, which developed into a social belief that finds its way into the Confucius teachings.
The influence of Confucianism on the Chinese tradition was further enhanced by the incorporation of the Xunzi teachings. Xunzi had more political and administrative experience than both Confucius and Mencius, which explains why he had an influence on social values (Ebrey 18). Therefore, he enhanced the development of the Confucianism ideology as a social, ethical and political philosophy in a significant and a unique way. Unlike Confucius, Xunzi was less committed to the precedents of the Zhou and wrote objective and argumentative essays on social, economic and political issues.
Confucianism was developed by Xunzi in relation to the perspective in heaven and its relation to man and the earth. He explained that heaven was only responding to the way man lives his earth on earth, and how he interacts with it. In this view, he advocated for social and economic developments as the necessary efforts for a person to achieve spiritual well being from the heavens. He states that heaven cannot make a country prosperous if the people ignore agriculture and industry (Ebrey 26). He further explained that heaven cannot bring any affliction to earth or to man; instead, it is the actions of man that reflect the afflictions on him. He states that misfortunes come on earth when man treats the earth with the disorder, and heaven brings blessings when man creates an order on earth (Ebrey 26).
Confucianism influenced the Chinese culture by appealing to taking care of family and other people. Confucianism contributed development of the respect for families by presenting family as the fundamental unit of the society. During the early period of the Han Dynasty, the Classic of Filial piety was written. For the classic of filial piety, Confucius states that this enables the role of people to take care of not only their parents but also other people (Ebrey 57). He explained that for a society to move forward, the good values and virtues of the previous generations and kings were to be passed to the new society (Ebrey 57). This creates the basis of influencing the Chinese culture towards the development of a civilization in China, from one society to another.
The Confucianism developed its influence on the society in a bigger impact because of introducing the values of a family. As the most basic unit of the Chinese society, the family values significantly influence the societal values (Ebrey 57). According to Confucius, filial piety is the root of all virtues. Not only is the family the foundation of the social values, the family is still the source of civilization (Ebrey 57). Confucius explains that the values in the family begin with the parents, and extends to the rulers serving the society, both at the time and in the future generations (Ebrey 57). By explaining this, Confucius creates an understanding that the values gained in the family find their way up to the political practices of the society. Therefore, by presenting these values, Confucius impacted on the social ethics, economic values and political ideologies of the Chinese society.
Confucianism developed the ideals of learning as the society sought to pass lessons to different members of the society. According to Ebrey, the way the upper class behaved is best understood if there is an appreciation of the experiences of the people when they are students (Ebrey 45). This is the reason why fathers and older brothers give education to the younger members of the family and the society (Ebrey 57). Noting that the family is the most basic unit of the society, it is therefore imperative that the older generation teachers the new generation. It is for this reason that Confucius sought to influence his students to focus on learning values that they would pass in the future.
According to Confucius, students should concentrate their minds on the way to learn. Confucius made his students to focus on the way and learn the right values (Ebrey 45). He further made students act and take the values that are in accordance with humanity principles (Ebrey 45). According to Confucianism, the real studies begin only with the acquisition and internalization of the principles of humanity (Ebrey 47). This is consistent with the Chinese believe in universal humanity. This way, Confucius influenced the Chinese society to embrace the universal principles as part of learning.
In conclusion, Confucianism developed through the teachings of Confucius and the ethics that he developed among the people. Through the teachings, the social values, economic believes and political ideologies of the Chinese society were influenced towards the ethical way. Confucianism was further developed by the incorporation of the teachings of the other thinkers who passed the values to the preceding generations to form an ideology that is commonly regarded as a religion. Confucianism influenced the values of the family, learning behavior, effective governance, women’s values and the belief in earth and heaven. The development of Confucianism as an ideology gradually influenced the society in all the dynasties that Chinese people had, and continues to influence their culture to date. This shows the importance of Confucianism to the Chinese society and culture.
Work Cited
Ebrey, Patricia. Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 2nd Ed, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009, Print